Project Idea: MixxxOS / MixxxDeck

General Discussion
#1

Hello dear Mixxx community, my name is Sebastian and I’m a DJ/Dad from Hamburg, Germany who recently got into 3d printing and the maker community - hungry for a good project. After brainstorming some cool ideas, a open source DJ deck, or all in one stand alone controller came to mind; one that would support rekord box sticks out of the box and feel familiar (essentially a open source high end CDJ or XDJ clone). So I searched for open source dj software and stumbled upon Mixxx, which looks awesome and supports Rekordbox sticks already - perfect.
I want to design a product that feels like home for Pioneer users, which matches or surpasses the quality of players like XDJ1000, while costing a fraction and being super customizable and modular. It could for example have the option of being battery powered, making it super handy for those underground illegal raves we have to resort to these days.
Things are rapidly changing, and I believe creating a compelling alternative that incorporates 3d printing and can actually replace a Pioneer product without demanding any extra steps by the DJ’s (which means I can actually use them at events), could seriously shake things up.
MixxxOS would be a platform that would make it easy to build DIY custom standalone DJ controller.
MixxxDeck would be a Pioneer deck clone, to suck in the crowd and grab peoples attention.

I wanted to get the communitys opinion on this idea before diving in, and maybe meet like-minded colleges who are interested in making it a reality.
I think the biggest challenge will be to implement the UI to match Pioneer player, I want the same layout but maybe with nicer design theme and I think a “link” feature would have to be implemented - it would be super awesome to get a little official developer support when it’s needed.

Cheers

1 Like
#2

Hej Sebastian.

I’m not sure I got it right what you’re trying to do:
build a product that can compete and surpass products like Pioneer CDJ2000… and Denon SC5000/6000 in terms of build quality with 3D printing (and laser cutting and maybe small-scale injection loulding)?
while costing a fraction?
how?

What exactly do you mean by “super customizable” and “modular”?
What exactly is your target group? consumers buying a ready-made product or DJ/electronics/programming enthusiast to work with you on a soft-/hardware recipe?

Are you aware of projects like Pideck, PiDVS, Traktorino, CDj-Pi-frankensteins etc.?

What I personally see some niche in the market for is a tablet-like device that complements my (or any other controller compatible with Mixxx) which sits nicely above my controller, which reliably boots up straight into Mixxx, does require little or no configuration for the realtime settings, allows me to update Mixxx with no hazzle and no risk (because of some dev/testing community).
(and for which I do not have to fiddle with tweaking the OS, kernels, scripts etc for weeks)
That would be awesome!

#3

build a product that can compete and surpass products like Pioneer CDJ2000… and Denon SC5000/6000 in terms of build quality with 3D printing (and laser cutting and maybe small-scale injection loulding) ?
while costing a fraction?
how?

If you break it down the hardware cost is not that high, even if you opt for really nice hardware, you won’t be close to the cost of a CDJ. The finish quality is only a matter of the amount of love one is willing to invest but the payoff is a completely repairable, custom machine that totally rocks. :heart_eyes:
Getting the jogwheel right seems like the biggest challenge here, which I’m willing to take on. Should be possible.

What exactly do you mean by “super customizable” and “modular”?

One of the main advantages of 3d printing (as I’m sure you are aware) is the customizable, remixable and open approach. Modular design could make it easy to remix parts of the shell to support a greater variety of hardware. Depending on budget or preferences, you could use various hardware. For example a really nice technics fader and high quality audio device with custom designed backplate for the desired connectivity. Sky is the limit.

I envision a future where all kinds of products and gadgets can be assembled easily by common folks with the help of proper documentation, tools and community support.
I’m a DJ who’s getting into making and I noticed a lack of audio related projects.

What exactly is your target group? consumers buying a ready-made product or
DJ/electronics/programming enthusiast to work with you on a soft-/hardware recipe?

Target in terms of making the thing is anyone in the diy audio-maker space but target for using it is anyone who is used to play with Pioneer setups (everyone). DJ’s expect Pioneer and won’t accept anything else, which means there is a lack of a diy product that can be just swapped in imo.
It is 0% about making money but 100% about saving it for people and having a fun project.

Are you aware of projects like Pideck, PiDVS, Traktorino, CDj-Pi-frankensteins etc.?

I recall having read about it a long time ago, back then I had little knowledge or interest in this stuff. Thanks for refreshing my memory and I’ll look into it. :slight_smile: I also found a cool article that goes over turning a midi controller standalone using a Pi and Mixxx.

What I personally see some niche in the market for is a tablet-like device that complements my (or any other controller compatible with Mixxx) which sits nicely above my controller, which reliably boots up straight into Mixxx, does require little or no configuration for the realtime settings, allows me to update Mixxx with no hazzle and no risk (because of some dev/testing community).
(and for which I do not have to fiddle with tweaking the OS, kernels, scripts etc for weeks)
That would be awesome!

After posting I realized the greatest feature of “MixxxOS” or maybe “MixxxPi” would be to transform any controller into a standalone device easily.
It should be as easy as installing the OS image on to the sd card, then print the case for the Pi + Pi Touchscreen and the desired mount and you are good to go.
This is a no brainer obviously and a project I’d love to work on.
Seems like this should be the first step.

Can you bring it up to your team?

I feel like this should be official with specialized UI.

Cheers! :beers:

#4

Yeah, go for it!

I’m still puzzled why you stick to Pioneer as a reference. IMO there’s little intersection of “John Pioneer User” and folks who like get their hands dirty with 3D printing, sanding and spray-painting and soldering, but that’s just my impression.

There’s a Mixxx community if that’s what you mean. And you posted on the community forum… : )

Improving / debugging touchscreen interaction is definitely an aspect we’re aware of, but it has low prio atm. We have a Zulip thread for that You may find some input, tweaks and inspiration there.

Regarding specialized UI: you may tweak existing Mixxx skins to adapt them to small touchscreens. First step is probably to remove duplicate controls from the GUi and make it fit the screen nicely without cut-off or squeezed GUI elements. So finally there could be a skin matching your controller exactly.